We are going to the Gold Coast

I finally got really cheap flights and am taking Mr T to Queensland for his birthday in Sept. Anyone have any general tips on where to stay or where to eat?

Should I stay in Brisbane or the Goldcoast?

I know it's probably too early too ask, but I'm just so pleased with myself because I never seem to get really cheap flights.

Cheezy Sun Dried Tomato Muffins

I finally decided to veganize savoury muffins and it worked, wohooooo!

Here is the vegan version of these:

2 cups self-raising flour
1 tsp salt
1½ cups grated cheezly mozzarella cheese, plus 1/3 cup extra
½ cup sun-dried tomatoes, drained, coarsely chopped
½ cup shredded basil
¼ cup toasted pine nuts
1 cup soy milk
80g nuttelex (margarine), melted
1 teaspoon of egg replacer mixed with 2 tablespoons of water

METHOD

1. Preheat oven to moderate, 180C. Lightly spray a 12-hole muffin pan with oil.

2. Sift flour and salt together into a large bowl. Stir in cheese, sun-dried tomatoes, basil and pine nuts. In a jug, combine soy milk, margarine and egg replacer/water mix.

3. Make a well in the centre of the dry ingredients. Add milk mixture all at once. Mix lightly, until just combined.

4. Spoon mixture evenly into recesses in prepared pan. Sprinkle with extra cheese.

5. Bake 20-25 minutes, until cooked when tested with a skewer.

--------
I think next time though I will add more basil and sun dried tomatoes. I probably should also mention that I've never had a savoury muffin before so I can't really compare it to non-vegan ones . But these are quite moist and don't fall apart thanks to the egg replacer and soy cheese and they taste great.

Procrastination cooking

I have been cooking a lot lately, not just baking like I normally do but actual cooking. It's because I've reduced my work hours so I can work on my thesis. So instead of doing homework I cook, at least it's productive procrastination.

If you have read this blog before you may have picked up on the fact that I love combining fruit/fruit juice with savoury dishes. It's one way that I try to eat more fruit, I don't eat enough by itself. So I decided to try the orange, lentil and carrot soup here. I didn't use fresh coriander or yogurt, and used ground cumin and coriander instead of seeds. It was ok, but I found myself needing more stock and relying too much on my 'beef' stock for too much of the flavour. Perhaps it is because I didn't use the seeds. I might have try it again actually following the recipe before I judge it.


Next, I decided to try the tofu balls thanking to Cindy's post. I really enjoyed them, the peanut butter helps them to stick together, and peanut butter, soy sauce, breadcrumbs (or cornflake crumbs in my case) all together equals yummyness. I didn't use the onion it asks for because I didn't have any, but I don't think it mattered. Sorry for my pic, I ate all of the prettier ones first and then put the uglier ones in my lunch box with pasta. Everyone at work, commented they smelled great. I did however, learn through trial and error that if you don't roll them in flour you can dry fry them instead of having to use lots of oil. I'm going to skip the flour next time.


Next up, I decided to make some choc mint cupcakes from VCTOTW. These taste like mint slices in cupcake form. Mr T helped me out with the icing and decided to be a little creative with it as you can see below. I did however notice that the mint icing part was kind of watery, i'm not sure if that's because I used margarine instead of shortening but taste wise it really doesn't matter. I even made a couple of non mint icing ones for those crazy people who don't like choc mint combinations. My little teenage cousins commented they they can't believe that they are vegan, and I ever so wisely replied 'sugar is vegan, and sugar is yum'.

I've decided I've been eating way too much sugar lately, so I decided to bake a slightly healthier baked good to take to Melbourne vegan strength training session. I wasn't training but just went to support the guys with food and to chat and to eat of course. Mr T recently started going to the gym and attending Melbourne vegan strength sessions and raved about them, so I also wanted to see it for myself. I thought that both bananas and peanut butter make a good workout meal, especially if teamed with choc chips. A Google search revealed a recipe for Peanut Butter Banana muffins with Choc chips at Utopian Kitchen. I had everything except for the egg replacer and according to the recipe it was optional, and considering that banana makes a good egg replacer I decided to give them a shot. I also used all white flour because I didn't have any wholemeal. I had 3 small bananas, but half way through making them I dropped a banana on the floor so I couldn't use it. Taste wise they were great, however it didn't make enough for 12 muffins , only 11 and they were still kind of small. I'm not sure if that is because of the missing banana or the missing egg replacer. Maybe I'll make them for brunch next week. Here's a pic of them with Noah's Cherry cupcakes.


Here are some of the guys in action:



They also have non conventional methods like tire throwing

And circus acts :-)

Meanwhile, I was playing with one very affectionate cat called 'Nothing'

Hope you had a great weekend!

Plush Pizza Party

On Fri night we went to the Mountain Goat Brewery with some friends. It's a really cool looking place and even has a Foosball table. Mr T enjoyed the beer sampler for $10 below:

We then went to Plush Pizza and got a vegemite pizza

and satay minus mushrooms

and chunky

and I forgot what this one was, possibly anti-pasto with mustard base???

and the Ben Special.

Mmmmmmm, it was so great. I couldn't pick a fav, but I really enjoyed just having lots of different varieties to eat.

Top 10 Vegan Recipes of 2008- so far

Thanks to Vegan.com for making the list with matching recipes so you can test them out. I look forward to trying them out especially since I only own two of the new vegan cookbooks-Veganomicon and Nonna's Italian Kitchen (is that a recent cookbook?).

Entrees:

1) Plantain Omelet - From Mark Reinfeld and Bo Rinaldi’s Vegan Fusion World Cuisine.

2) Thai Coconut Corn Soup - From Nava Atlas’ Vegan Express.

3) Indonesian Coconut Rice - From Robin Robertson’s Vegan Fire & Spice.

4) Baked Ziti - From Beverly Lynn Bennett’s Vegan Bites.

5) Moroccan Phyllo Rolls - From Dreena Burton’s Eat, Drink, & Be Vegan.

6) Italian Stuffed Crepes - From Bryanna Clark Grogan’s Nonna’s Italian Kitchen.

7) Chickpea Curry - From Hema Parekh’s The Asian Vegan Kitchen.

Desserts:

8) Banana Chocolate Bread Pudding - From Isa Chandra Moskowtiz and Terry Hope Romano’s Veganomicon.

9) Root Beer Float Cupcakes - From Hannah Kaminsky’s My Sweet Vegan.

10) Fresh Mango Cobler - From Ani Phyo’s Ani’s Raw Food Kitchen.